Onward to Utility!

Let us, then, be up and doing,
With a heart for any fate;
Still achieving, still pursuing,
Learn to labor and to wait.

-- Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

With the ink barely dry on Phoenix’s CDX, I’ve been trying to get a grip on what we need to do in training this winter to be realistically prepared for a Utility debut in March.

Is it legal to use “realistically prepared for Utility” in the same sentence? I hear the echoing laughter of everyone who has ever shown a green dog in Utility.

Phoenix will be my fourth UD. Each of my previous dogs has been a very individual experience.

My first sheltie, Jess, and I stumbled around the Utility A ring for the better part of the spring of 1991, then all of a sudden he Q’d in three straight trials. Connor, being the classic overachiever that he was, Q’d his first time out and went 3 out of 4 to get his UD in two weekends. Jamie? Ummm . . . I showed him a handful of times and it became apparent that we were so dismally unprepared I pulled him out of the ring for a year. When we returned, he Q’d his first 3 times out.

Who knows what Phoenix and I will do on this leg of our journey, but I’m looking forward to it because Utility has always been my favorite class to train for and show in.

Here are some highlights of each exercise that we need to address. One benefit of it taking longer than expected to finish his CDX was that I kept training the Utility exercises at the same time, so we’ve got a pretty good grip on things already.

More or less.

Sometimes less.

Sometimes a lot less.

• SIGNAL EXERCISE: This is all about attention. Teaching the mechanics of the signals are not that complicated. Building a solid understanding that these signals must be performed IN PLACE (no creeping forward) and maintaining the focus that will allow your dog to successfully do them at a distance of 40 feet is another thing entirely. I see many sets of many signals in many different places in our future plus creative proofing when I train alone.

• SCENT DISCRIMINATION: After initially (stupidly - don’t go there) teaching the turn and sit, I switched to sending direct. Needless to say, this resulted in major confusion on Phoenix’s part. I’ve started working “send direct to a cookie” (no article pile, just turn, run and get the cookie on a target on the floor) and suddenly the turn has become crystal clear. Also, I tweaked my turning footwork to keep my big feet out of his way. Seriously, we were running into each other on the turn. This was demotivating for him and painful for me.

• DIRECTED RETRIEVE: This is good. The skinny little dog likes to fetch things and his marking is good. Our weakest point is the #3 turn. I would prefer NOT to have any repeats of our Versatility experience earlier this fall where I turned and he didn’t and he ended up looking over his shoulder to see the signal.

• MOVING STAND: The standing part is good, the returning part not so much. To be honest, our regular finishes aren’t that great either, so I need to work the overall concept. Plus finding lots of people to do exams while convincing Nix to keep his brain in his head and not have a goofy malinois meltdown because someone is PETTING HIM OH DON’T STOP THAT FEELS WONDERFUL A LITTLE TO THE LEFT PLEASE.

• DIRECTED JUMPING: The go out. The turn. The sit. The actual jumping. The front. The finish. Oh dear. Need I say more?